Pilgrim
by CaTigeReptile
Summary: Lance, the mysterious knight of Pherae, tells an equally mysterious tale. FE6 and FE2. Soon to be revised to reflect the actual FE2 storyline.


Fire Emblem and its characters belong to Intelligent Systems/Nintendo. This is the first chapter of a multiple-chapter story that I intend to finish.

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I suppose I should tell you where I come from, Master. My appearance alludes to at least twenty years of existence before serving you, my lord. In order to fill this void, should I weave a fantastical tale? Would that be sufficient for my liege?

We shall start our story in a distant land, split in half by divine siblings. As you may guess, they were day and light, dark and night; earth and life; death and sky. Perhaps we should give these lands names. How about we call this land Valencia, and call its kingdoms Rigel and Sofia? The gods, too, deserve some form of identity; we will know them as Mila, goddess of Sofia, and Doma, god of Rigel.

Sofia has considerable semblance to Lycia, my lord – fertile soils suited for a peaceful agrarian lifestyle. Rigel has no exact counterpart, but I suppose it can be compared to Ilia, for it is known as the kingdom of Knights and the land is barren. Unlike Ilia, however, the fallow soil comes not from snow, but rather from the Mountains of Fire that cleave Valencia in two. The ground beneath our feet in the cave of Durandal would have reminded a Rigelian of home.

My lord is logical, so you may wonder how the lava pours onto the fields of Rigel but not on those of Sofia. The volcanoes face only Rigel, for when Valencia was created by the sibling gods, Mila created a river to the south of these mountains; a mote to shield Sofia from Doma's penchant for destruction. In anger, Doma invited dragons to live in the volcanoes he created and to feast on humans. When someone disappeared in either kingdom it was assumed that a dragon had taken them.

Legends further tell of Mila's pity for the humans of Rigel, and of an arrangement she made with her brother. Her people would give fruits and grain to the people of Rigel; in turn, Doma would prevent his dragons from terrorizing her kingdom. Doma begrudgingly accepted her offer, for although he despised the idea of providing for his people and preventing devastation in Sofia, he knew that a kingdom was useless without its subjects. A valley was created through the mountains and an indestructible bridge created over the river to allow passage of Mila's gifts.

Relative peace was sustained until one thousand years ago, when summer suddenly became winter. Without explanation, blizzard and frost ravaged even the warmest regions of Sofia, freezing its soil, killing all crops and destroying its farmland. Mila was able to guard neither her people nor her land from the otherworldly power of the seasons' inversion. The once-fertile ground of Sofia could no longer provide for its large population, and countless families starved. The divine land managed to support some Sofians, saving them from extinction, but these Sofians could no longer provide Rigel with fruit or grain lest they themselves starve.

After this sudden winter came another storm: a sudden surge of dragons. Somewhere in the world, dragons had been driven from their land by humans. Doma, pleased by this, offered them shelter in his Mountains of Fire and offered revenge against humans. Since his sister could no longer keep her promise, Doma, too, broke his. Sofia was wrought with the terror of dragons once more.

Both gods seemed to disappear from their lands, and so the people of both Rigel and Sofia designated human rulers. The people still felt the presence of the divine; Mila using all of her power trying to restore her ravaged land, Doma lording over the dragons. His reins on Rigel were not loosened nearly as much as Mila's on Sofia – if my lord may forgive me for a horseman's metaphor.

Doma spoke through the King of Rigel so that the kingdom would build its military strength. He provided the zeal and the hate that would drive Rigel for centuries to come. The brother of Valencia came to be known as the Dragon God, for it was he who swayed the dragons to provide Rigelians with sustenance: The greener the fields of Sofia became, the more Doma's power over dragons grew. The lushness of Sofia reminded these dragons of their homeland – the homeland they were driven from by humans. Doma needed not do much to convince the dragons to steal Sofian crops and bring them to Rigel. In return, the dragons received sacrifices of Rigelian children as religious tribute to Doma.

Over generations, there had been noble families from both kingdoms that switched allegiances, but what is known about Valencia's more recent history suggests that many Sofian noble families had abandoned their goddess Mila in favor of her brother Doma. This spike in converts seems to have coincided with the coronation of Rigel's new king, Rudolf. When he came in to power, the dragons began to sweep away entire Sofian families. As soon as the bereaved kingdom would weep for them, the prince or princess of that lost family would be seen in the sky, riding a dragon and singing praises to Doma, the Dragon God.

King Rudolf devoted himself to the spread of Doma's power and influence. He began to amass disciples of Doma to cross the seas and convince the entire world of the Dragon God's glory. The dragons' tales of how they had been slaughtered by ignorant, vicious, unprovoked humans had been passed on for a thousand years. It was clear to the Dragon God's reverent followers that these barbaric, uncivilized humans needed to be told of the divine superiority of the wise Dragons. It was clear to them that the rest of the humans, not only in Sofia but also throughout the entire world, needed to be saved.

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Does anyone want to beta for me? I think I want a beta.


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